Tambuwal urges telecoms operators to invest in Sokoto

ATCON inaugurates industry advisory council

GOVERNOR of Sokoto State and former speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, has appealed to telecommunications operators in the country to consider his state in their expansion plan.

While acknowledging the immense work the operators have done and still doing in the country, Tambuwal said telephone has revolutionized every aspect of Nigeria from 2001 till date, adding “all the efforts of players have paid off significantly.” He posited that the Nigerian telecommunications sector has matured.

Tambuwal, who was among the guest speakers at the 21st anniversary of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in Lagos, at the weekend, observed that the group at 21 has lived up to the expectations of the founding fathers through deliberate imputes to policy formulations and advocacies.
“Telecommunications sector has revolutionarised our lives with the evidences all encompassing. Through the efforts of the players communication has become easier and cheaper; through SMS, voice calls, Internet calls, among others”, he stressed.

While urging the operators not to forget Sokoto state in their development and expansion plans, Tambuwal said the state is trying to put up a framework that will help players’ have a favourable operating climate.

The former speaker, who disclosed that before his emergence as the state governor, there was practically nothing happening as far as ICT was concern, stressed, “Sokoto seeks collaboration with telecommunications operators not for IGR targets, but for developmental purposes.”

Meanwhile, to facilitate the growth of the telecommunications industry, the ATCON has inaugurated a 49-man ‘Nigeria Telecoms Industry Advisory Council’ (NTIDC). The body also unveiled ‘a code of conduct’ for the members.

Giving more insight into the inauguration, ATCON’s President, Lanre Ajayi, said its formation was a way of mobilising the stakeholders and to generate new ideas.
“ATCON National Executive Council (NEC) approved the formation of the Telecoms Industry Advisory Council, which is a platform that brings people with deep experience,’’ Ajayi said.

He said that the council was a combination of retired people with the current actors in the industry that would brainstorm on contemporary issues with the aim of guiding the industry by issuing advisory notes through the association’s NEC.

According to Ajayi, an engineer, the council is made up of all past Ministers of Communication (or equivalent ministries) and past Executive Vice Chairmen of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). “The council is also made up of past presidents of ATCON and 15 distinguished major actors in the Nigerian telecommunications industry,’’ he added.